There were also "some accounting issues" associated with the Australian branch that weren't present in New Zealand, he says.

EasyCall bought the Australian, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong education divisions of US recruitment and education firm Spherion in 2004.

EasyCall renamed the business Computer Power, reversing Spherion's move to rename them Spherion when it originally bought Computer Power in 1998.

Last year EasyCall launched legal action against Spherion, alleging Spherion misled it as to the state of the finances of the Computer Power businesses it bought.

Spherion's sale of its regional education businesses in 1998 is separate from the sale of its regional recruitment businesses in 2004. The New Zealand branch of Spherion Recruitment was sold to Australian firm Ross Human Directions in June 2004.